Why Would Someone Use Clickjacking?

Most people these days seem to have a basic grasp of what clickjacking is, but they don’t really understand why anyone would want to use clickjacking to sucker Internet users into silly things such as “liking” a page on Facebook. It’s one thing when hackers use viruses to steal information from someone’s computer. That’s a dirty, unethical, illegal thing to do, but at least you can understand the motivation behind it. With clickjacking, though, a lot of people just wonder “why.”

It’s simple in most cases. Hackers can make money through clickjacking by forcing large numbers of people to visit websites or promote Facebook pages. There are a couple of strategies that they can use. Some of them get paid for every hit that a website gets through their link. It’s similar to many online marketing techniques, except even shadier.

They can also get paid for general promotion of a website. For instance, if someone owns a company that promotes websites, then they can use clickjacking to show a client how effective their strategies are. It doesn’t hurt the clickjacking victim nearly as much as it robs the client.

Hackers can also make money by getting people to take online quizzes. That’s why you see so many quizzes popping up when you follow likejacked links on Facebook.

Although clickjacking hasn’t caused many significant problems, it is a troublesome waste of resources that makes the online community suspicious of everything that they encounter. Unfortunately, that’s the best way to stay safe online. Remain suspicious and you can make it harder for clickjacking hackers to make money from their pathetic scams.